Today's outing

Today I got some things done around the house - which was sorely needed, so I didn't get on the road as early as I would have liked. At least I did manage to go to the Cascades, hike, as well as get my chores done, so I will take it overall as a great success. I finally took all those clothes to donation - and I took care of the leaves in my front yard that had started to take over the driveway of both my neighbors :( They have been quite patient with me thus far but I didn't want to test that any further! I also did dishes and laundry and other sundry stuff that seems never ending...

Then I headed out of town. I stopped first at a bakery to pick up some lunch - I got a slice of fritatta that was very tasty! I want to try to make one of those - shouldn't be too hard. Hardest part for me will probably be remembering to look up then pick up the ingredients and remember to use them before they spoil!!

Audrey and I drove east toward the Cascade mountains and the tiny town of "sisters" that sits between two of the "sister" volcanoes that are some of the highest peaks in the state. Around 3pm I realized I'd need to find a place to hike because there were only ~2 good hours left before dusk. I stopped at the first spot to find that it was only a 1/4 mile trail - but it did have a great creek for Audrey to play in. We stayed only briefly in order to find a better trail.



















The 2nd trail I found was much longer, called "rooster rock". We never did find the rooster rock - according to the one set of people I met we went about 2/3 of the way up - but after 1 h of hiking I knew it would be wise to head back without making it to the end, least I find myself heading back in the dark. The trail wasn't very well used, and would not have been nice to hike at dusk. Apparently the view is worth it - in fact I found this online:

http://www.oregonphotos.com/TableRock-Pan.html

I may try the hike again someday - or maybe just push on up the road and find a new trail! There are way too many to choose from - I could probably never see them all. I got some nice pics on this hike, mostly of trees since that's about all I saw the whole time. I did have one odd experience - I kept seeing two people ahead of me, but then they would disappear. At first I thought I was seeing things - maybe it hadn't been a person - plus I was shocked because I hadn't heard or seen anyone the whole time and I wasn't walking fast so I doubted I could have possibly caught up to other hikers. Just when I was thinking I may need to start believing in ghosts (haha) I realized what they were doing - they were picking mushrooms! They kept going off the trail and bending over and such, which is why they kept popping out of sight. And that's also why they were going slow enough for me to catch up to them. Crazy locals :) People here are fun... We stopped back at the creek so Audrey could cool off - she seemed a bit hot from the hike. I actually took those pics on the way back. On my way home I stopped in a small town at an authentic looking Mexican place and had a big yummy burrito. Here are some pics I liked from the day (there's a woodpecker in one of them... maybe you can spot him?):





































I have to interject my blog right now with a random thing - my roommate is listening to some compilation album of uniquely American songs (so nice of this foreigner to try to learn our culture, but somewhat misguided effort, I think!) Currently playing is "home on the range" - oh Uncle Bob, I will never forget your lyric: "show me a home where the buffalo roam and I'll show you a dirty house" - I have quite the urge to sing along right now using those lyrics :)

Funny things around town

I've mentioned a bit before about what kind of town this is - but it really is something unique. I see something unique nearly every day. I've seen a few different people riding to school on unicycles, and the other day I saw someone riding a bike that had been jacked up so that the height of his seat was higher than the cars. It was at least double the height of a normal bike. I would have liked to see how he gets on and off of it!

Friday I took my dog to the meadows east of my neighborhood for a dusk walk (since I didn't want to head into the woods at dusk). We encountered a lady who was not only walking her dog, but also walking her parrot! The parrot's name was "Socrates" and apparently he doesn't like to come out of the trees to go home until dark, but he always comes down eventually. She was trying to coax him down early...

There are small things here and there around town that remind me that I'm in a very nature-oriented place. one of the funny things that I had noticed and liked even in March when I came here to interview was the signs to the building I work in. They are like signs at state parks, made from carved wood. They are like this kind of sign (except without the lower part that, I believe, shows elevation):

A mini-vacation: 16 hour one-day road trip!

Last Sunday I wanted to go to southern Oregon for a sheep herding competition so I could scope out the scene here and find a new trainer for Audrey. I left the house at 6am - totally unprecedented for me! It was about a 3.5 hour drive down there, so I decided to make a road trip of it and see a new part of the state while I was out and about. On the way down I stopped for gas and coffee - at both places they offered Audrey dog treats. People here are so friendly! The competition was nice - the people seemed friendly and gave me good information. It was in Ashland, OR, which is almost on the border with California. The setting for the competition was stunning - I included a picture below. Unfortunately my camera battery decided to die just then so I didn't get a full panorama nor did I get pics of the later parts of the day.











After the competition, I went a bit north to Medford for lunch and to see the big Harry and David store. Oddly enough I decided nothing there looked enticing because I'm quite spoiled with the good food here, so those fresh fruits and nuts were not remarkable to me anymore! They did have a huge pumpkin statue being carved with 3 giant pumpkins on top of each other like a totem poll - it was pretty cool. While I was at lunch some people told me about a nice dog park across the street so I decided to take Audrey to check it out. People there were very friendly and the dogs were too, but Audrey as usual wanted to play with me and not the other dogs so on our way we went.

We drove north on the Rogue-Umpqua Scenic Byway.
http://www.oregon.com/byways/rogue_umpqua.cfm
It was phenomenally beautiful and I will go again - many times in fact. This would be a place worth buying a little cabin someday. Audrey and I walked along the Rogue river (" one of the original eight rivers designated as "Wild and Scenic" by Congress in 1968 for its amazing beauty and wilderness"), and she swam in it. This river is good for rafting and kayaking - I will have to try it next summer! The rapids get too hard for me in places, but it has a dam, so if I stay above the dam I'll be fine. I don't have my own pics, I stole these from online:











Then we kept driving and stopped at Mill creek falls - we hiked to the falls. It was an amazingly beautiful day - sunny and clear, but it had been rainy the week before so the falls had a lot of water. They were breathtaking.















We continued driving and went to Crater lake. I didn't realize crater lake was formed from in the blown-off top of a volcano. Therefore it is at a high altitude and as we went higher and higher in the mountains we found snow. Audrey LOVES snow! I loved seeing her eyes get huge when I let her out of the car to play in it! It was very deep - I think at least 2 feet (deep considering I'd seen no signs of snow where I live!) and Audrey was jumping through it like a kangaroo leaving holes a few feet apart through the snow showing her hopping tracks. She tried to chase a bird but couldn't get much speed - it was pretty funny! She tossed her nose in it and rolled around - she was a very happy dog.

Crater lake itself is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. I can't wait to go back - though I think it's closed most of winter. It supposedly has some of the most pure waters in the world. It was extremely tranquil that day too, because it was off season and there was so much snow, so tourists weren't there. I wanted to stay longer, but it was already getting near dusk and I had a long drive home ahead of me, through icy mountain roads. They have winter snowshoe tours - maybe that can be my next trip there? Can't take Audrey on that one though, and she is a very good travel companion!











I got home exhausted around 10pm, but feeling like I had a real vacation that day. It was a very wonderful day!